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Postal Running With Scissors Ripcord The folks at Ripcord obviously set out to do something different when they created Postal. First, they avoided the tired first-person perspective for their shooter by giving gamers a multidirectional scrolling board. Then they made the controls a bit differently, skewing the arrow key movements a bit so that up was always forward, down backwards, and left or right turning one direction or another. They even went as far as creating hand-painted backgrounds. And then they took one step too far. Postal goes far beyond pushing the envelope on bad taste. It knocks the sucker right off of the table, shoots the guy who put it there in the kneecaps, and then laughs as he begs for mercy. This is not a game for the squeamish. The object of Postal is to kill everything. The more you kill, the higher your score. There are also no demons or monsters or bad guys in general. The people you have to take out are innocent bystanders, police, firemen, and anyone who gets in your way. The idea is that you have gone "postal," and human life means nothing to you. Let the fun begin! Okay, granted, Ripcord is having fun at the expense of conservative pundits, tweaking card-carrying members of the NRA who say video games are too violent and causing the downfall of modern society. That is admirable to some extend, flaunting the ridiculous extreme this issue has been taken to in the past. But how far can you push the violent sensibilities of gamers and still produce a fun game? The joke just may be on us. During the course of the game, you can actually wound people without killing them, and stand over them as they beg for mercy, rolling about in pain. Again, you might crack an incredulous smile at how far this game goes, but you probably won't like yourself very much if it goes any further than that. Ripcord counts on that, and if you find you just can't go on, you can put the shotgun in your own mouth and blow yourself away. But I still have to question the merits of a game so inhibiting it makes you want to commit virtual hari-kari. As far as game play goes, it takes a little while to get used to. The controls become easier the longer you play, and seem natural after a while. Weapon switching is standard, although some weapons are just similar enough to be confusing. There are several different rocket-launching possibilities, and it can be difficult to toggle through to find what you want in a tight situation. Overall, it's not quite intuitive, but at least something a bit different, and an interesting perspective. As in most death matches, using the regular level maps can leave you wondering around, sometimes chasing your own tail, unless you have enough players to literally litter the field. There is one great feature that I haven't seen in any other game, though - playing dead. You haven't lived until you've been traced and trashed, laid down, waited for your opponent to turn his back, and then stood up and blasted him. I guess if he's not smart enough to see that you didn't drop your stuff when he "killed" you, he deserves an uncomfortable rocket placement. It's right up there with the invention of "remote ridicule." The bottom line on Postal is that it tried too hard. It is indeed a shocking game, but that seemed too much the point. It can be quite challenging at times, and Ripcord has put in some enjoyably fresh features. Still, Postal falls under the weight of its own shock value. -Nick |
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